International women's football and gender inequality

Abstract

A number of authors have identified the determinants of international sporting performance differentials in men's sporting events. This study compares the determinants of men's international soccer team performance with that of their female counterparts and find that a partially different set of variables are important in the two contexts. While economic and demographic influences hold for both, their particular political and cultural factors diverge. These findings highlight different degrees of gender inequality among the countries in the sample in terms of the greatly different economic, political and social significance of the sport depending whether it is played by men or women.